Patently intellectual
Intellectual property is a term that has become voguish in recent years--but it is nothing new to Hidejiro Tanigawa, who has been dealing with the concept for about a quarter-century.
Tanigawa, 49, is a patent attorney and a translator of patent-related documents in the field of bioscience.
"What's good about translating patent applications is that you get to learn a lot about the most up-to-date technology of modern science--it's quite something," Tanigawa said.
Born in Osaka, he majored in biology at Osaka University. After working for a trading company for 1-1/2 years, he joined a major patent agency in 1980, which gave him the opportunity to immerse himself in English every day--the opportunity that led to his present career.
He was assigned to work at a foreign department of the agency, and was asked to translate foreign firms' patent applications from English to Japanese. By doing that, he learned much about the patent system, along with many patent-related English words and phrases.
He obtained his patent attorney license in 1982, and 2-1/2 years later, quit the patent agency and went to the United States. There he attended a training course at Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP, an intellectual law firm based in the suburbs of Washington. Shortly after coming back to Japan, he opened his own agency in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. (233 words)
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Since April, he has been an instructor at a translation training school organized by Toray Industries Inc., teaching those who want to be patent-specialized translators.
"Translation of patent applications--whether it's from English to Japanese or the other way around--requires three basic skills: language, knowledge of technology, and knowledge of the patent system," he said.
Of the three, he thinks the most important is the language. However, the remaining two are also essential, as one can hardly expect to do a good job without them.
"Suppose you are translating a patent application for a product related to bioscience. If you don't understand anything about bioscience, you can't even consult a dictionary, as you wouldn't understand what the dictionary told you. A basic knowledge of the field is necessary just to be able to look up things in a dictionary," he said.
As for the patent system, he said translators need to know primarily the U.S. patent system, as it is mostly Japanese firms applying to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office who need such translations. But he said that the fundamental elements of the patent system are similar worldwide.
"With the Internet, it's become surprisingly easy to study on your own," Tanigawa said. He recommends looking at published patents posted on the U.S. Patent Office's official Web site to study how an English application should be written and to learn frequently used technical terms.
The Koizumi administration has placed much importance on intellectual property with a view to increasing the international competitiveness of Japanese industry. The Basic Law on Intellectual Property was enacted in 2002, while the government set up the Strategic Council on Intellectual Property the same year to work on policies. With the rapid advancement in modern technology, the importance of intellectual property is expected to grow more and more in the future.
"There are many translators, but only a small number of them have a thorough background knowledge and can do translations good enough for the patent business," Tanigawa said. "If you're good, you'll find yourself greatly sought after by clients."
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This monthly column will focus on areas of specialization for translators and interpreters through interviews with experts in such fields. It will return on Aug. 25.